8 Easy Vegetables Anyone Can Grow

Given the proper care and conditions, most vegetables are not difficult to grow. However, some are easier than others. If you’re new to gardening or want to get the kids involved, you’ll want to start with the easiest vegetables to grow. Not sure what qualifies as an easy vegetable to grow? The following contains information on the 8 easiest veggies to grow!

Growing an Easy Vegetable Garden

Whether you’re a Master Gardener, a novice, or just want a low maintenance crop, you’ll want to look for easy vegetables to grow at home. What qualifies a veggie as easy to grow? A number of factors combine to make one vegetable easier to grow than another.

• Look for crops that are low maintenance. These are veggies that require little more than planting a seed and occasionally watering.
• Look for vegetables that are disease and/or pest resistant.
• Along the lines of low maintenance, select veggies that are drought tolerant. All seeds need to be kept moist to germinate but once established, some veggies survive, even thrive with little supplemental moisture.
• For some, speed is a factor when considering an easy vegetable to grow. This is especially true if children are involved. You want to keep their attention focused until harvest; fast growing crops show growth on a nearly daily basis, reinforcing the magic of food production from seed to table.

How to Prepare the Garden

Before planting, you need to consider site selection. Almost all vegetables require sun, so you'll need a site that receives at least 6 hours of direct sun per day.

Water

Veggies need at least an inch (2.5 cm) of water through rain or irrigation per week depending upon weather conditions. Consider where the water is coming from. Is the garden near a hose or outside tap? Are you going to put a drip line in or soaker hoses or are you going to luck buckets or watering cans full? What is the plan to water the garden?

Weeds

Vegetables don’t do well with weed competition. Are you going to cultivate or hand weed on a regular basis to ensure weeds don’t take hold? If not, are you going to grow through black plastic, or mulch to retard weeds?

Easiest Vegetables to Grow

Once you have your veggie garden area prepped it’s time to plant. Before investing in seeds or starts, make sure you know what you want to plant and that your choice works for your USDA zone. Also be sure to read the seed packet and make sure your growing season is long enough for the crop to come to fruition.

The following is a list of eight of the easiest vegetables to grow.

1. Lettuce

Lettuce of any sort is one of the easiest crops to grow. Lettuce can be grown in a container and is a quick crop to grow, ready within about 6 weeks from sowing. There are only two things difficult about growing lettuce: bolting and snails/slugs. Plant lettuces early in the spring when temps are cool, look for bolt-resistant varieties, and protect delicate plants from the ravages of slugs/snails.

2. Radishes

Radishes are another super easy crop to grow and again, a rapidly growing crop – ready in a month or so. These peppery root veggies like cool temperatures and should be sown in the spring or all. Radishes come in a variety of pretty colors, and are fairly pest resistant and frost tolerant.

3. Green Beans

Green beans might seem daunting but they are anything but. Green beans, both bush and pole varieties are easy to grow although pole beans will need a trellis or other support. Ready for harvest in about 50-60 days, beans thrive in poor soils while improving it as they fix nitrogen into the soil for the successive year's crops.

4. Beets

Colorful beets are yet another on our list of easy vegetables to grow at home. Beets should always be directly sown in full sun, ½ inch (1 cm) deep and spaced 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) apart. Thin to 3-4 inches apart. Beets are ready to harvest after about 2 months. And remember, the beet leaves are edible too!

5. Zucchini

Zucchini squash and other summer squash varieties grow rapidly and are prolific producers. They require well-draining, nutrient rich soil in full sun. Once the plants take hold, they grow by leaps and bounds, so quickly it’s difficult to keep up with the harvest!

6. Spaghetti Squash

On the subject of squash, the winter spaghetti squash is another hugely productive crop that is highly resistant to pests and diseases. Plus it’s just fun to eat. You will need room for the vine to grow but it can clamber up almost any structure and can even be pruned to slow rampant growth.

7. Carrots

As long as you don’t obsess over the perfect ramrod straight carrot, growing carrots is delightfully simple and fun. Getting them to grow perfectly straight does take a bit more work, however. If you don’t mind twisted or forked carrot roots then this is an easy crop for you that can be sown in both the spring and fall.

8. Tomatoes

Our last easy to grow veggie on the list might come as a bit of a surprise. It's one of the most popular veggies grown and with good reason. It’s incredibly versatile and can be cooked, eaten raw, pickled, canned, stewed, roasted, etc. We’re talking tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes are susceptible to all sorts of pests and diseases and picky about their growing conditions, but well worth the effort. Select small grape or cherry tomato varieties to grow in containers. Look for disease and pest resistant cultivars. The kids will love hand picking these tiny red globes.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of easy to grow veggies. Your local nursery, extension office or even long-time neighbor may also have some insight into not only what type of crop to grow, but also what varieties will thrive in your area.